“Gideon, don’t worry about my soul or some shit. That man came at my son.El hirió a mi bebé.”
“And he’ll pay for hurting Matteo, I promise.”
She stared at me for a beat before releasing her hand and picking up her coffee. “I don’t blame you for what happened. I know you’d never intentionally let anything happen to Matteo.”
“Whether you blame me or not, I am responsible. Benito is coming at me, and he told me to watch my flock. I feel he’s of the thinking that if he can’t get me, he will take everyone else around me out.”
“Sounds like exactly what is happening. But this isn’t on you. If he is behind this, and we both know he is, he knew there were children in that car and had that person hit it anyway. This is what makes you different, nothing like him. You’d sooner die rather than hurt a child.”
“I’m so sorry, Rita.”
She got up and moved to the seat beside me and pulled me into a hug. “Te amo.”
“I love you too.”
Explainingto Olivia and Owen’s principal that some of my people needed to be on site instead of on the street like they normally were took a lot of finesse. In the end, a very hefty donation to the music department made them quite amenable.
Their first week of school was uneventful, and though the twins were sad Matteo missed it, he did return the second week as if nothing had happened to him at all.
Every part of me wanted to charge into Benito’s home, tie him up, and rip the skin from his body, but that would be wonderful for him. I’d end up in jail, and I’d leave my family vulnerable.
The kid who’d crashed into the SUV—and he was a kid—was seventeen. Toni spoke to him after he made bail. His name was Ricky Garber and after serious convincing, he’d told Toni he’d been offered five thousand dollars to drive a car into the SUV.
Ricky drinking was all on him. He was a blubbering mess explaining how he didn’t want to do it but had gotten kicked out of his house and with the weather getting cooler soon he’d feared he’d be on the street. He’d picked up a bottle of vodka—because fuck being twenty-one, apparently—and drunk it. A man Ricky hadn’t known had shown him the car and handed him the keys. Ricky’d received a call about our outing, and when the man had told him we were at the diner and to wait until we were in the SUV, Ricky had done exactly that.
I needed to know who that man was because if I couldn’t get to Benito, I could get to him. Ricky confirmed it wasn’t Benito and gave us a loose description of the guy, and he sounded like a generic stereotype of every white man.
“I got information on the car Ricky was driving.” Toni entered my office with his tablet. “It was purchased at a seedy used car dealership in Hillside. Alex went there and had words with the owner. Got a photo of the ID and info on the buyer, but the likelihood of it being legit is slim.”
“Even the most protected trail is eventually discovered. See what you can find with the fake shit.”
Toni went back to his tablet, practically bumping into Penn as he entered my office. “He’s distracted.”
“He’s tracking down the owner of the car that hit the SUV.”
“Any luck?” He came and stood between my legs, and I hummed happily.
“If there’s a snag, Toni will find, pull, and expose it.”
I sat up and wrapped my arms around his waist, giving his butt a squeeze. “What’s up?”
“Jennifer is here giving Olivia lessons, and Owen is reading in his room and asked me to not disturb him because it was a good part of the book.”
I chuckled. “His mom was like that. If she had a spare minute in the day, you’d find her with a book in her hands.”
He smiled softly. “I like that he has a piece of his mom in him.”
“Me too.” I pressed a kiss to his stomach. “So, are you telling me we have some alone time?”
“I’d say we have about fifteen minutes at least.”
“Shut and lock the door.”
With a laugh, Penn did as instructed. I stood and as soon as he was close enough, I took his mouth in a rough kiss. I could never have too much of this man.
“Pants off and bend over my desk.”
Penn quirked a brow but once again followed orders.
